Today Only: Buy IHG Points For Under 0.6 Cents Each

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Daily Getaways is back this year, which is a five week promotion intended to promote US tourism. It offers opportunities to purchase discounted hotel points and travel packages.

I’ve shared my initial thoughts on the packages for sale, including the offers for weeks one and two. Daily Getaways packages go on sale at 1PM ET every weekday, and the more popular packages sell out very quickly, so you’ll want to be fast, if interested.

Here’s a chart with the details of the packages, how many you can buy per account, etc.:

# Of Points

Cost

Cost Per Point

# Of Packages

Limit

15,000 IHG Rewards Club

$89

0.6 cents/point

1,000

5

25,000 IHG Rewards Club

$149

0.6 cents/point

750

4

50,000 IHG Rewards Club

$299

0.6 cents/point

755

4

100,000 IHG Rewards Club

$589

0.59 cents/point

2,900

3

130,000 IHG Rewards Club

$749

0.58 cents/point

1,000

3

Given how many units are available for sale, the good news is that I don’t think it will sell out quickly. Last year the IHG points packages didn’t sell out for weeks, so I suspect it’ll be the same this time around.

If you’re so inclined, you can purchase up to 19 packages, for a total of 1,050,000 IHG Rewards Club points.

The cost per purchased point through this promotion is ~0.6 cents, which is pretty reasonable.

For what it’s worth, IHG Rewards Club also often has sales on the purchase of points directly. The highest offer they tend to run is for a 100% bonus, which allows you to purchase points for ~0.575 cents each. So this rate is actually a bit higher than what IHG usually charges directly. The catch is that when you buy IHG points directly, you’re limited to buying 60,000 points per calendar year (pre-bonus), while through this promotion you can buy way more points, and it doesn’t count towards your annual limit.

If you have the IHG® Rewards Club Select Credit Card you get a 10% points refund on award redemptions, for a total refund of up to 100,000 points per year. When you factor in the refund you’re getting on redemptions your net acquisition cost is more like ~0.54 cents per point, which is even better.

If you are going to make a purchase through Daily Getaways, note that their merchant code has them categorized as “travel.” So you’ll want to use a card that offers bonus points on travel, rather than a card that offers bonus points specifically on hotels. For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Cardoffers double points on travel, the Citi ThankYou® Premier Cardoffers triple points on travel, etc.

Bottom line

Personally I wouldn’t speculatively buy IHG points at this rate, though with a specific use in mind, this could be a great deal. Ultimately the cost per acquired point is actually marginally more expensive than when IHG runs a promotion on purchased points directly, though those promotions are capped at 60,000 points annually, before any bonuses.

Do you plan on purchasing IHG Rewards Club points through Daily Getaways?

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About luckyBen Schlappig (aka Lucky) is a travel consultant, blogger, and avid points collector. He travels about 400,000 miles a year, primarily using miles and points to fund his first class experiences. He chronicles his adventures, along with industry news, here at One Mile At A Time.

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Comments

All very bad deals. Hilton points are more valuable and were just on sale for .5. I bought 160,000 points. Good for over month since right now I can stay at the very central Hampton Inn Addison for 6,000 points per night!!! 10,000 points (reduced to 8,000 when booked 5 nights in a row) then reduced to 6,000 since you get 2,000 points per night back. Now thats how to get $3200 out of your $800 investment! I searched IHG and have not found anything even remotely close to getting back even the .6.

The IHG points are more valuable to me simply because all of their top properties are capped at 60k points per night. 0.6 cent per point is not a very good deal but there is value to be had given that the best IHG hotels are essentially $320 out of pocket per night

I like keeping 25-30k on hand just to take advantage of point breaks. This promo is easier for me than some of the accelerate type promotions if I don’t have any travel planned. The last accelerate promo would have netted me 31k for about $180. ( plus traveling to the hotels ) That works out to be slightly more expensive to me than just buying them outright here. Am I overlooking a better method?

I am new to OMAAT, points etc. and I need some more information.
A few weeks ago I read here about a Hilton deal. Buy points and get the same amount of points on top. I paid $200 for 20.000 plus 20.000 points. Sounded like a great deal to me.
Then I made a reservation at a Hilton in Cusco, Peru. The choice was either $104 or 19.000 points per night. So the cash price was roughly the same amount that I had paid for the points.
Why should I buy points? Or are there hotels where the cash/points ratio is favorable?
Thanks.

@Kraut55
youre confused because you did something only advanced people MAY consider and not even do themselves. meaning you just put yourself in a ridiculous situation. i would recommend you do more research before you lost money. as you said, youre new. the whole point of buying points is to get more value when you redeem. you are redeeming wrong. ur not supposed to buy $200 and redeem for $200. youre supposed to redeem for $500 for example.

Lucky, youve been in the game way too long to title this post with “Today Only”. cmon. you know its not today only right? you should change it. maybe nobody cares since nobody has even bought 1 single package yet today…

@anonymous
And that was just my question. How do I redeem for $500? It would be rdiculous to go to a hotel in a city I don’t need to fly to just to maybe find a point value that is better than the amount I would have to pay in cash. Is it just pure luck to find a good value or is there a strategy one can follow?
“Do more research” – happy to. Is there a FAQ or similar?

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About Lucky

Ben Schlappig (aka Lucky) is a travel consultant, blogger, and avid points collector. He travels about 400,000 miles a year, primarily using miles and points to fund his first class experiences. He chronicles his adventures, along with industry news, here at One Mile At A Time.

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